October 26, 2022

"Perfect" (Gura x Mumei tribute, One Direction parody)

Writing a comment about Gura and Mumei's friendship / colleague relationship got me thinking once again about -- who else? -- One Direction. Boy band anthems can easily be adapted to be about friendships and other non-romantic relationships, as long as they're close and potentially intense, especially where each of the pair complements each other, or brings out a hidden side of the other. BFFs, or partners in crime.

So I've adapted "Perfect" (original lyrics here), with two twists. One, the close relationship is a Platonic one between two girls. And two, the male voice that begins is not pining for a romance he may not ever get (although it starts off sounding that usual way), but for a role to play in the friendship of two others (without it being a love triangle).

In that way, it's more about the yearning between a fandom and their performer, as well as the Platonic yearning for close female friends between two female performers themselves. Girl-respecters and girl-likers are damn rare in the media / entertainment industry, where most girls are girl-haters (and man-haters, too -- people-haters, cynics, etc.). So when two of them find each other, it's quite the exhilaration. So fun, the boundaries start to blur -- are they performing for their audience, or for each other? Nobody loves Hololive girls more than other Hololive girls. ^_^

I could have easily written these lyrics about Gura's other bestie, Fauna, it's just that that recent comment about Mumei & Gura singing musicals together was fresh in my mind, and "Moom" rhymes perfectly with the original lyrics. Also, Gura + Mumei keeps it Platonic (if still intimate and intense), whereas Fauna's witchy sensuality... may make the lyrics sound like they're flirting with the outer boundaries of Platonic friendship, and not that there's anything wrong with that, this just isn't meant to be a shipping anthem. Hehe.

Aside from the giggly entertainment that you girls get from lurking here, I hope it also makes you appreciate your relationships more, and not take them for granted. As much as you make your audiences feel like they're entering a virtual wonderland, you're living a fairytale of your own with each other. Why do you girls have to be so damn cuuute?



* * *


I might never be your number-one fan blogger
You might never tweet me out to all your followers
And I might never be in a meet-up of the Holos
But I can be the one you use to break the ice

When I first saw Goob
In collab with Moom
I could tell that they were princesses (uwuuu)

Girls, are you so sure
Who you're streaming for?
Are you more than just actresses?

So if you like slumber parties under Minecraft moons
And if you like karaoke duet Broadway tunes
If you like to view the memes you know that you shouldn't view
Maybe you're perfect, maybe you're perfect for you

And if you like zatsu streaming with your filters down
And if you like yabai posting on your alt account
If you like to do whatever you've been teasing about
Maybe you're perfect, maybe you're perfect
So come log on now

I might never be the drive you save your art in
Or the heart-rate belt that spikes each time she logs in
But that don't mean you two can't browse into my mirror
'Cause I can be the one reflecting back your light

When I first saw Goob
In collab with Moom
I could tell that they were princesses (uwuuu)

Girls, are you so sure
Who you're streaming for?
Are you more than just actresses?

So if you like slumber parties under Minecraft moons
And if you like karaoke duet Broadway tunes
If you like to view the memes you know that you shouldn't view
Maybe you're perfect, maybe you're perfect for you

And if you like zatsu streaming with your filters down
And if you like yabai posting on your alt account
If you like to do whatever you've been teasing about
Maybe you're perfect, maybe you're perfect
So come log on now

And if you like channels clipping when you leave 'em in doubt (uwuuu)
And if you're looking for a mod who'd never ever time you out
Maybe you're perfect, maybe you're perfect

If you like slumber parties under Minecraft moons
And if you like karaoke duet Broadway tunes
If you like to view the memes you know that you shouldn't view
Maybe you're perfect, maybe you're perfect for you

And if you like zatsu streaming with your filters down
And if you like yabai posting on your alt account
If you like to do whatever you've been teasing about
Maybe you're perfect, maybe you're perfect
So come log on now

32 comments:

  1. Night of the Living Dead watchalong with Gooba tomorrow! Not to be overly dramatic, but streamers are the only cultural force that can get lots of people to watch the same thing at the same time, and be aware of belonging to this huge audience.

    Anyone can watch a horror movie on their own -- but picking the same one to watch, on the same day and time? And feeling part of a single cohesive audience? Those days are long gone. Except for "movie night" with streamers.

    Fauna & Mumei's Twilight / New Moon watchalongs, too.

    But now that NotLD is public domain, Gura can show it on her stream itself, so the members of the audience don't have to cue it up from their own source.

    Quite the bonding experience! She really has a knack for bringing audience members together into a great big crowd feeling.

    Commentary formats like podcasts cannot do this since they're not live. You could do commentary on it, like a book or movie club that meets regularly to listen to / discuss the material. But they don't share the movie-watching experience itself, only the commentary (if that -- most people listen to podcasts individually, on their own schedule, not at the same time, aware of being part of a single crowd tuning in together).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the choice of movie, too, such fond memories. Millennials and Zoomers will refuse to believe it, but back in the '80s, a little kindergartener like me could check that movie out of the public library with absolutely no questions asked.

    Night of the Living Dead, Aliens, The Elephant Man, all sorts of disturbing movies for small children to watch. No helicopter parents to get in our way.

    I didn't need my parents' library card, or a permission slip from them, or their presence there while I checked it out, or any bubble-wrap generation crap like that. Just a kid and his card. :)

    I checked those out so many times, too, not a "we'll let it slide just this once" kind of deal.

    Naturally I had recurring waking nightmares about the queen alien coming up from under my bed while I was trying to fall asleep. But I got over it after a week or so.

    NotLD didn't scar me as much, except for that one scene where the little girl is mindlessly and repeatedly stabbing her own mother to death with the garden spade -- that metal-against-gritty-soil sound still creeps me out.

    We watched the classic Disney movies of that era, as well as kids' fare from TV (Faerie Tale Theatre, Welcome to Pooh Corner, Saturday morning cartoons, etc.). But in addition to that, which Millennials / Zoomers are familiar with, we had major exposure to all sorts of R-rated material.

    Can you imagine a Zoomer in kindergarten checking out Saw from the public library? Or a Millennial checking out Scream?

    Or those horror movie marathons around Halloween -- if you had cable TV, you could watch all the Friday the 13th / Nightmare on Elm Street / Halloween series, and your parents didn't stop you (whether they approved or not, they let you do it).

    Somehow I don't see Zoomers watching a Saw series marathon on their family's cable TV set. Hehe.

    I also don't see Zoomer kindergarteners playing whatever the hot horror video games were in the mid-2000s.

    Meanwhile every late Gen X-er knew someone who had a TurboGrafx-16 with Splatterhouse, which they got to play even as elementary school children. Such a different time. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. They're coming to get you, Gawrgura...

    Night of the Streaming Banned!

    "Living" and "Dead" are opposites, so what would be the opposite of "streaming", where an online persona is dead? It's being banned, or deleted, or something. But "banned" sounds closest to "dead".

    * * *

    They thought they had safely canceled her off the platform, for problematic loli-ness, and yet... a trending hashtag, #TheSharkIsBack, reports that a frame has mysteriously gone up on her suspended YouTube channel.

    Buffering wheels suddenly strike every account on Twitter, as the entire site becomes redirected to her waiting room, where the audience counter now reads "souls waiting".

    Jannies furiously slam their Esc keys, but the screen is locked, as her intro bgm creeps into playback.

    Panicking, they hold down the power off button -- only to hear that jangly theme song still sounding!

    Out of nowhere, a singsong uwu voice breaks in: "Did you miiiisssss meeee?!?!?!"

    This Halloween, only in theaters.

    "Nyo use begging da mods, I jus sent dem into eawwy wetiwement."

    In real life, no one can hear you spam the "report abuse" icon.

    "Mmmm, youw data... so yummy and tastyyy!"

    Gawr Gura stars in -- Night of the Streaming Banned

    ReplyDelete
  4. The owl is Canadian! During the alphabet game, she said the last letter as "zed". Checking how Canadians refer to Coke etc., they almost all say "pop", like she said before!

    No WONDER... America bros, if you thought our side of the Great Lakes people were passive-aggressive and Midwestern nice, you haven't met people from Ontario!

    She sounds so Americanized otherwise, maybe that's how they sound in Tumblr: The City (AKA Toronto)? Somewhere where a regional dialect would quickly get replaced by mass media.

    Kronii is openly Canadian, but Mumei's so deeply paranoid that she thinks we'll use any secret about her to harm her. How are we going to do that with your nationality??? There is such a thing as being too paranoid.

    We like you for who you are, you really think we're going to unfollow you just cuz you're Canadian?

    Alsoooo, heard Fauna clearly say "moosh" for "mush" today, referring to making dry cat food wet. "Moosh it up" -- Scotch-Irish confirmed! Sounds exactly like my gran. :)

    Clan MacKirin -- it sound perfectly Celtic! Now we know where she gets that witchy Druidic sensuality from...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aidan Barrett10/28/22, 9:44 PM

      One of the most influential Critical Educators in North America is a French Canadian with a lair in Hamilton, Ontario!

      https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/people/giroux-henry

      Delete
    2. Aidan Barrett10/28/22, 9:49 PM

      Believe it or not, Toronto was once called "The Belfast of Canada"

      https://books.google.ca/books/about/Toronto_the_Belfast_of_Canada.html?id=7b0jCQAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y

      Delete
  5. They don't know about the memes we view
    They don't know about the hiiii-uwu's
    If they watched as we did things so cute
    They would just be antis of SNOT

    They don't know about the all-girl vibe
    They don't know I've scrolled my whole timeline
    To find some friends who'll never unsubscribe
    Baby, they don't know about
    They don't know about SNOT

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oooh, shark-cam! We know you don't have to do such nice things for us, that's why we appreciate our oshi as much as we do. ^_^

    It's not in your creative mad-genius gemini nature to just coast after an initial bout of success. Otherwise you would've checked out a couple years ago. Hehe.

    Whatever strange new journeys you want to take us on -- animation, live duet with yourself for karaoke, shark-cam -- we'll always be there for the ride!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey gurrrl, just checking in to remind you that we will never stop cherishing your adorable nature, not even when you are feeling down on yourself during that irritable and emotional week out of the month. That's all it is, and it'll pass, just like every month before.

    And your fans who are over 15 years old will sense that, and not get all doomer about one little week.

    We know you don't truly hate the sound of your own voice -- one of the most rhythmic, singsong, reach-out-and-touch-you kind of voices we've ever felt. That's just the temporary bad mood speaking, not what you really feel deep down -- otherwise you wouldn't serenade us with three-hour karaoke cabaret sessions multiple times a month. :)

    But during this time, you might not want to hear reassurances from your guy fans, so we'll just hand it over to your biggest fangirl, to convince you of how cute and precious we will always think you are:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJQqr9a7aWg

    And maybe a tender "don't get down on yourself" ballad from another, which could just as easily be framed in terms of close girl friends, not just bf + gf as in the original.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6so8vzTs40

    [Pronunciation guide: "CURS-ed" in two syllables, and in Mumei's voice]

    I'll never let these cursed memes
    Get leaked through my account
    But if they're viewed, it's you,
    Oh it's you that they make so cute
    I'll stay sub'd to Goob
    And all your cursed memes

    ReplyDelete
  8. It all ties back into the cursed cooking Halloween stream, and other SNOT-esque humor. It's not meant as a gross-out, to shock the normies, to subvert social norms, etc. It's just letting others see the less-than-perfect side of your psyche, as a trust exercise to strengthen your bond -- they're not going to get weirded out and push you away, they're going to show you their less-than-perfect side in return.

    Guys don't really do that in the sense of revealing flaws, but we do share other things that make us less than perfect -- war stories, battle scars, and the like, of the times when the world got the better of us, as a reminder that we're not the 100% invincible badasses that we pretend to be in front of our fellow bros.

    And just like when you girls are together, we don't wallow in self-pity about it. We have a good laugh about it! It's what makes us real human beings, nothing to wallow in shame about.

    That's why your audience likes you and your all-girl collabs -- that view into girl-world that we normally don't get, and that we find more fascinating since we already know enough about guy-world to not have to experience it virtually through streamers.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Gura streaming throughout the month means we get to see a side of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype that we normally do not, if they're in a movie or TV show. Namely, what are MPDGs like, and how do they interact with others, during their shark week? (1st week of the calendar month, in her case.)

    Usually the MPDG is bright, flirty, engaging, lifting up others' spirits, adventurous, etc. But she won't be feeling that way during this week.

    But judging from the Goobinator, they don't counteract their MPDG traits then -- they don't disengage, they don't try to lower others' spirits, don't withdraw into a fun-hating cocoon, etc.

    They do get a little irritable or snippy, but that does not function to push others away. It's more of a test, or an appeal for a little comforting in return -- after all the comforting they have given to others during their high-energy two weeks out of the month.

    Their cursed / dark side comes out a bit more in their humor, but that is not to gross others out, or push them away with weirdness. It's just another aspect of their earthy, rather than ethereal, nature. They're earthly guardian angels, not formless / airy / puritanical.

    And they are still going on a series of meandering adventures, bringing the not-so-bold others along for the ride. But this time, their adventure may make her a little weepy rather than cheerful and excited. However, that is still a unique and valuable adventure that the others would never have gone on, without the MPDG acting as the ringleader.

    Last night, she began crying during a sad daddy-daughter moment in a game. Other times, she gets choked up singing emotional songs during karaoke (e.g., "When I Was Your Man" from last April, or "Reflection" from April of 2021).

    But that doesn't erode the bond between the MPDG and those whose spirits she's lifting up during the rest of the month. We still appreciate the fact that we're being taken on a unique adventure with a special creature. Maybe it's normal female behavior during that week of the month -- but most girls aren't going to go out in public to take others on an adventure during that state. By bringing us along for the ride during a vulnerable and tender time, she really is "not like the other girls".

    ReplyDelete
  10. The MPDG is all about opening the eyes of others to a wider range of experiences and feelings -- and for Gura's mostly guy audience, that's just what happens when we see her crying during a sad moment in a game, or getting sniffly during a sad song.

    MPDGs let it all show, no shame, and thereby encourage the others to let it show and not feel ashamed. (Not encouraging deviance or anti-sociality -- just not being so uptight and hiding-in-your-shell.) During the high-energy two weeks out of her cycle, that takes the form of letting your excitement-seeking side out to play, rather than be an all-work-and-no-play type.

    But during the low-energy week out of her cycle, it just takes a different form -- letting the vulnerable, cursed, etc. side show without shame.

    And then after that week, there's the resilient bouncing back from that vulnerable state. She's springing back into form -- and thereby encouraging us to do so as well! Don't deny it or numb yourself to it, and don't wallow in it either -- just let it run its natural course, and bounce back afterward. :)

    MPDG's prioritize following nature, going with the flow, "let your mind go and your body will follow" (L.A. Story), and so on. However, only in the streaming format -- where she is before the audience throughout the entirety of her monthly cycle -- do we get to see how this takes shape during the one week where you might think her MPDG traits would get counteracted, where she might sabotage her role with the others, etc.

    Nope, she's still playing the same role, only showing a new facet of it.

    Very captivating to see her show all these different facets of the single underlying MPDG type, something that was not written into her counterparts in movies or TV shows.

    ReplyDelete
  11. BTW, it's nice to see that her cycle just so happens to line up so that most of the major holidays -- when the audience would love an exciting stream -- fall within her fertile two weeks, and almost none fall within the moody week.

    Really only July 4th lies squarely within her moody week. New Year's Eve is right on the border of the final high-energy week and beginning of the moody week.

    Oh, and of course April Fool's Day is at the border of high-energy and moody -- helping her bring out the cursed humor appropriate for that holiday.

    Otherwise, Valentine's Day is right on the border between the "bouncing back" intermediate week and the start of eggy-weggy week. Her birthday, Halloween, and Christmas are all during her final high-energy week. And depending on the year, Thanksgiving is either in her 1st or 2nd high-energy week.

    She gets so pumped up for any holiday, loves to celebrate, and wants badly to give a big performance for the occasion. I wonder if she somehow unconsciously willed her monthly cycle to line up in the most holiday-friendly way possible?

    "We've got a buncha shows to put on throughout the year -- we'll show those hormones who's boss, heheh."

    Or maybe it's all one great big fortunate coinkydink. Either way, we're blessed!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I don't mean to talk about shark eggs so much, but it's worth emphasizing since we're at the start of a huge shift away from hormonal birth control throughout the entire female population, and the return of the monthly rollercoaster rides that women will be taking us on.

    Mmmm, oh nyo, pwease don't take me on youw head-spinning wowew-coastew wide, EVEWY, SINGUW, MONTH. Anything but *that*...

    Life's about to get a lot more exciting. Mainly thanks to the fertile two weeks after Operation: Release the Egg, but even the moody week will bring tender bonding moments and comforting weepy eyes on our shoulders, that had gone missing for the decades of birth-control brainwashing.

    Shark-girl's behavior shows these extremes more than other girls because she's more open as a person, but it'll be happening even with the more guarded girls out there as well.

    Hail to the hormones!

    ReplyDelete
  13. :::Fauna::: We're here for you when you need us. You're more than just a content provider, and we're more than just an audience. The interactions between you and your fandom make it more like friends and acquaintances.

    So please, don't feel like you can't come to us if you need someone to talk to, or just unload on. That's what friends are for. Just ask your cathartic ranting genmate. :)

    It doesn't have to be a livestream either. You can send a tweet or drop a brief pre-recorded video, when you have the energy and comfort.

    Let us know how much we should be praying, playing "Lean On Me," or whatever else.

    You saw how the fans helped you guys work through Sana's graduation. Commiserating, sharing stories, fanart -- whatever it took to not feel alone while going through something heavy. We can help you get through anything. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Sorry for your loss, Fauna ;; We could tell how much he meant to you, and living beyond 20 is a testament to what a thoughtful and nurturing soul you are. I'm sure he knew that, too, and was grateful to be blessed with such a caring owner.

    And I know that when he sees how loving you are toward him still, he'll look down from cat heaven and send you a slow-blinking kiss, to let you know he still appreciates you, too.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Fauna, to try to help you along the way, here's an idea. I know it's too soon now, just something to consider for later on.

    You've dealt with the loss of a pet before, but there's something new this time because Clover was something of an on-stream collab partner himself. :) His avi was shown during your debut, there's fanart of him, you talked about him all the time, and he often insisted on having some "spoken" lines while you were live. He was a fellow talent, a supporting character in the cast.

    It seems only fitting that he should get a dedication or memorial within the Fauna show. You know how TV shows, when they lost a cast member, would begin an episode with a picture of them, and text reading "Dedicated to the memory of _____"? Something like that, but given how interactive your format is, you could give him even more of a memorial, if you wanted that and felt it would help you through it all.

    When you're past the stage of mourning where you want to grieve alone, you could request some fanart to capture Clover and you together. It would reconnect you with those who care about you, and who care about him, without having to return to live-streaming just yet. It would help you heal, to see tributes pouring in.

    You could also ask your superfans / discord besties / etc. to arrange these fanarts into a pre-recorded slideshow that you could upload to your channel, during the break from streaming. Maybe interspersed with some key tender Clover moments clipped from your streams. You could include the dedication slide here, if you thought that including it in an upcoming live-stream might make you feel too weepy when you're trying to return to normal. I'm not sure what music to use / what you have perms for -- your superfans would know better.

    But the basic idea being they put most of it together, you just have to sign off on it, since it may feel too soon for you to do the nitty-gritty tasks of clipping, editing, etc.

    To ease back into streaming, maybe you could log into Minecraft *off*-stream and build a little memorial for him -- or a large monument, however you feel. Maybe make an in-game book / journal where you write down your memories of him. You can't build your own monuments to him IRL, but you can in Minecraft, and that would still carry the weight of "being built for posterity in his memory".

    Then when you're comfortable returning, you can do a Minecraft stream where you share these things with the audience, and maybe talk about it in more general terms -- owning pets, appreciating their unique personalities, how to cope with their loss.

    It helps to heal from a specific loss if you can place it into a larger context -- and then hear others sharing their similar stories, to reassure you that you're not alone -- while still respecting his special individuality by making a memorial for him in particular.

    I'm just thinking of how Sana built that secret room at the top of her tower to help herself, her fellow talents, and the fandom, to heal after her graduation.

    In fact, you could use this opportunity to keep in touch with her, to bounce ideas off of her, since she's already gone through the process of "building in Minecraft for IRL therapy". :)

    Whatever you choose to do, on whatever schedule, please know that we're always here for you and willing to help however we can. You've been so kind and caring toward us -- and toward your kitties -- that we'd only be too happy to repay you.

    :::Fauna:::

    ReplyDelete
  16. Clover tribute from a Fauna clipper. :)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7DDKJDoze0

    I didn't know Gooba drew him for Passpartout -- that's the kind of thing that would only come up in a curated tribute like this. Very wholesome to see what an impression he made beyond the Fauna show itself. :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Realignment well along in the United States as well. The Republicans have failed to gain very many seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate, despite Biden being a very unpopular president in worsening economic conditions. It shows the Republican coalition falling apart, since they couldn't rally together even in the face of Democrat wokeness, even if they are running on crime and the worsening economy and inflation. If it were still the 2010s the Democrats would probably have been wiped out in many races since the Republican coalition was cohesive and dominant enough to shut out the Democrats.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Mumei used the word "marmot" to refer to a groundhog, and scored better on "O Canada" than "The Star Spangled Banner" in the trombone game.

    If she were American, I'd think she came from Iowa or nearby. So is she from one of the Prairie provinces in Canada? That's one part I've never heard or seen much about, just assume they're like Iowa / Minnesota / Wisconsin.

    Toronto, Montreal, Alberta, Vancouver are all pretty well represented in popular / online culture. But not the Prairie.

    Usually, you can match Canada with America on the east-west dimension, since there's not much north-south to Canada (everyone lives along the American border). So, Vancouver is like Seattle, Alberta is like Denver, Toronto is like Chicago, Montreal is like New York.

    Then Des Moines or Minneapolis would be like Winnipeg up north.

    Fauna was gently teasing Mumei's pronunciation of "crayon" (as "cran"), and on the dialect map that would put her in the Minnesota area.

    But Minnesotans don't say "zed" for the last letter of the alphabet, or call groundhogs "marmots".

    Winnipeg it is (at least in my head canon, but probably also for real). I have no idea where she's currently living, since young people in college and streamers zig-zag all around the continent. But for where she grew up, I'm going with Winnipeg.

    And no, none of this can be used to doxx since she's probably not living there now, there are tens of millions of Canadians, and nearly a million in the Winnipeg area, so that doesn't narrow anything down to the individual level.

    I'm just curious about people I'm not very familiar with. It's a fun puzzle to solve. I immediately picked up the Midwestern niceness and preference for Midwestern rather than Sun Belt emo music. But was not expecting Canadian, let alone from the Prairie!

    And I know it may feed her paranoia to see people try to guess where she grew up, but it can't doxx, and it's because she's an intriguing person who gets the ol' curiosity a-buzzin'.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Fun fact: "American Woman" is by a band from Winnipeg (the Guess Who). Also home to classic rock staple Bachman Turner Overdrive (some overlap w/ the Guess Who), and their next-gen singer Tal Bachman from the '90s ("She's So High"). And '90s one-hit-wonder the Crash Test Dummies.

    I'd say that makes up for uber-cringelord Neil Young hailing from there as well.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Fauna and Mumei both returning to Minecraft, the coziest place to burrow away during the cold season. :)

    You guys could rope others into joining you if they didn't have to stream on their own, but just joined the voice chat to socialize, like the good ol' days of spring 2022. Hehe.

    Fauna's Alpine lodge looks really striking with the figuring on the stripped spruce logs. Looks almost like quarter-sawn oak with the Mission / Arts & Crafts stain, that dark brown background and wavy orange shapes in front.

    Yes, that look was recently on my mind cuz I was browsing antiques in a spooky mansion, right before I came home to Fauna's return stream. :)

    Normally you wouldn't see that on the exterior of a home b/c of the potential for weather damage, and it would be covered in some boring paint. But in the utopia of Minecraft, there's no such thing as weather damage, and you can display those wonderful woods on the exterior for extra charm and character.

    Nor do energy resources ever dwindle -- torches stay lit forever, redstone lighthouse lamps shine forever.

    A very welcome bit of escapism during our crumbling late-empire dystopia.

    ReplyDelete
  21. What's better than Gura on stream? THREE Guras on stream! From an old clip that showed up in my recommended:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc_kHEsuasw

    Between that and the self-duet for "Anything You Can Do," she really enjoys the idea of overwhelming the audience (with cuteness). She already has so much energy for one person, but that's not enough for her performing standards sometimes.

    Or maybe it's from being a smol bean, wishing she could take up more space and be imposing? But she already has enough energy and personality for three people! If we end up overdosing on cuteness, it's her fault. ^_^

    BTW Goob, I don't know if anyone told you, but you have very girly and dainty hand movements when you're cooking. :) We may not have seen your hands for most of that stream, but even when you're using a utensil, it was with small, swift, soft motions (like mixing the green slime). Not treating your arm like it's an industrial-sized mixer machine.

    And the way you were just smacking those Oreos in order to crumble them, hehe, like when girls get frustrated and start smacking their desk, or smack against a guy's chest (lightly, doesn't hurt).

    I know you didn't plan that out, it's just who you are -- like Faunya said, you're even more cute & girly IRL than on stream. I totally believe that. :)

    I'm not a "foot guy" at all, but I can imagine your feet and lower legs kicking back and forth in the air as they dangle over the chair seat, or while you're laying on your tummy, to work out some of that hyperactive energy or frustration.

    Your online persona is so evocative, the audience can tell what it's like to be physically in your presence, despite you being behind a digital avatar. Very good at conveying the full richness of a person through voice-work alone (and some digital "puppeteering" with the avi, as you called it).

    ReplyDelete
  22. Imagine not loving virtual girls...

    ReplyDelete
  23. I always get the names of cities and provinces mixed up for Canada. I meant Calgary or Edmonton, not Alberta, as being like Denver. Or maybe they're like Phoenix -- one of the big Rocky Mountain cities.

    I know that Toronto's longitude puts it closer to Buffalo, Pittsburgh, or Cleveland, but those aren't the super-duper size city that Chicago is.

    And like Chicago, Toronto used to be the Second City in population size, though unlike its American counterpart, it actually *overtook* the Eastern giant city (New York / Montreal) during the '70s.

    Why is there no mirror-image phenomenon of the Sun Belt in Canada, with everyone under 50 moving to the Glacier Belt in search of cheap land and no roots to tie them down? I haven't looked into any data, but I'm guessing Canadians are more rooted than Americans, not moving around all over the place -- especially without the Sun Belt sucking everyone down from up north.

    One last observation about Winnipeg and Manitoba -- there's only one city that dominates the entire province, similar to Minnesota being dominated by Minneapolis-St. Paul, Wisconsin dominated by Milwaukee, Illinois dominated by Chicago, and Michigan dominated by Detroit.

    No second-tier cities there, like ones that would be in the top 50 cities by population for all of Canada. All of it is concentrated into Winnipeg.

    So I'm guessing that although it looks politically mixed on paper, it's actually more reflective of the urbanite coalition. Like MN, WI, IL, and MI all being more urbanite and liberal than nearby states that have several cities vying for top status, with lots of second-tier cities, which dilutes the influence of a would-be super-duper mega-city.

    Iowa has three or four cities of equal power, Indiana has a shitload, and Ohio has 3 big ones and several 2nd-tier ones.

    Manitoba is probably like combining Minnesota and Wisconsin into a single state, and relocating everyone from Minneapolis and Milwaukee into a single shared mega-city like Winnipeg.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Sharky's first Sonic game! They sure don't make 'em like they used to... but it's all good, hanging out with our princess party hostess while she's in such an ovulacious mood makes it all worthwhile. Hopefully my charmingly offbeat comments here helped to get her all giggly, too. Whatever I can do as a fan to improve her performance. :)

    Since Gooba is such a smell conoisseur, have you heard of those "sweaty t-shirt studies" from a little while back? They give girls t-shirts to wear, with no deodorant or perfume or whatever, and ask random guys to smell the shirts and rate them for attractiveness of their scent. What do you know, they smell the best during the fertile phase of their monthly cycle, and least attractive during their infertile week.

    An even more scandalous study, that could never be re-done today, back in the Seventies, did the same thing... but for girls' underwear. At no point in the monthly cycle did average guys find them intoxicating or anything. Still, what do you know, they found them most acceptable during their fertile phase, and least acceptable during their infertile week.

    No one knows about that study, but I blogged about it awhile back. In the interest of science (and the history of science, what you used to get away with).

    No, I'm not wishcasting for "sweaty t-shirt" merch from the Holo honies. Just noting that it would've been even more spellbinding to be in Gura's physical presence during sweaty gamer moments (like that retarded puzzle tonight), during her happy-happy two weeks. Which apparently began today or yesterday, muuuuch more excitable and sociable compared to just Saturday.

    Real fans notice key details about their oshi like that. ^_^

    Amazing how many other senses we can get an impression of, based only on her voice-work.

    Also for any guys thinking of throwing their hat in the ring, remember that Gura *loves* the smell of a gasoline-y garage, and rubber tires. Translation: Dior Fahrenheit for the gasoline, and Bvlgari Black for the tire rubber.

    Why, she could buy those for herself and spray them around her place to capture the smell of those environments, without having to spray them on herself.

    ReplyDelete
  25. The original Sonic game came out when my best friend Robbie and I had a little door-to-door summer job, as 10 year-olds. Yep, no helicopter parents to keep us cooped up all day, every day -- they even took us to the municipal center to get the proper permit, and to the hardware store for the basic supplies.

    We offered to spray-paint someone's address numbers on the front curb, for easier visibility than if they were little decorations way back on the house itself.

    We had a rectangular stencil for the white background, and store-bought numeral stencils for the black foreground. Charged $4 a pop.

    Most people weren't interested, but still were glad to see us kids being out and about, trying to make ourselves useful, and earn a little honest money while we were at it.

    And most of the fun on our part was just hanging out outside, wandering around the neighborhood, riding our bikes to parts we normally didn't visit, and occasionally getting to indulge in some legal spray-painting of public surfaces. Hehe.

    Some of our loot we spent gorging on nachos or slushies or whatever at the local pool, but we saved most of it up.

    What could we possibly spend this giant pool of money on? We still have somewhere over $75 left -- about $200 in today's dollars. But as 10 year-olds!

    As fate would have it, one of the coolest video games ever made came out that summer -- Sonic the Hedgehog. Robbie's dad stopped by Babbage's or Electronics Boutique on the way home from work, and it was all ours!

    Maybe if we had bugged our parents long enough, or waited till a birthday / Christmas, we could've gotten it as a gift. But it was too cool of a game to wait that long! We had to play it NOW! No better way to spend our summer's haul.

    Poor Millennials, Zoomers, etc., will never get to enjoy those experiences, or reminisce about them. We were the very end of Gen X, just barely slid in before the helicopter parents messed up the Millennials by keeping them caged up for their entire developmental window. Sadge.

    But in case the post-X generations are curious -- it really was a different world before helicopter parenting. Our parents never accompanied us while we had that summer job, only bailed us out once when we messed up and had to get some paint remover delivered before finishing the job. Otherwise, they were nowhere to be seen -- just us kids, and the grown-ups we met for the first time after knocking on their door.

    Lemonade stands were for rookies back then -- try cold-call selling someone on a trades job, and when they're two feet taller than you!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Sadly, the gay retards who are ruining Sega have made sure that no one knows how great the Sonic games used to be, when they were all the rage. I just checked to see if streamers could play them by downloading from Steam, GOG, PlayStation Store, etc. -- nope.

    The core Sonic games are Sonic 1, 2, 3, Sonic & Knuckles, and Sonic CD, from the '90s.

    None of these games can be purchased individually or as part of a bundle / compilation. Only the spin-off games from the '90s (like Sonic Spinball Blast) can be bought for PC. And all the crap that followed the '90s era Sonic.

    The closest you can get looks like the Sonic Mania game from 2017 -- new and re-designed old levels, in the original style. But I watched Ame play that, and it didn't look as good and fun as the originals.

    This is a general feature of our collapsing culture industry -- whoever holds the rights to some franchise wants to make sure we don't realize how far their quality has fallen, so they just don't allow you to consume, let alone broadcast, what their ancestors made back in the '80s or '90s. Absolutely shameful, pathetic, but sadly to be expected by this point in our cultural stagnation and decline.

    Imagine telling someone from the '90s that one of the most iconic characters in video game history would have his entire heyday erased -- as in, you would be unable to play Sonic 1 from 1991, which was so ubiquitous back then. As a standalone game, as a pack-in game for a new Genesis console, as part of the 6-Pak compilation cartridge, etc. Now it's impossible.

    The closest you can do, short of playing on the original hardware (which fortunately I can do, hehe), is get the Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection disc for the PS3. And you have to play it on the PS3, since it wasn't out for the PS1 or PS2, and the PS4 and PS5 are not backwards compatible with the PS3.

    Damn!

    I got that brand new for my brother in the early 2010s, and I think he got rid of it sometime later, thinking that he'll just be able to buy those games he's interested in from an online source. Nope! He probably got rid of his PS3 as well, thinking that everything would be backwards compatible. Nope again!

    In a just world, Sega would be nationalized, all the good ol' Sonic games made available online, and new PC-crashing stuff like Sonic Frontiers canned.

    But in our wicked world, Sega has erased its own glorious past in order to numb the senses of today's gamers to what garbage they've turned their franchises into.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Plenty of ways to play Sonic 1 without owning the original console. On the Genesis Mini. Sega Genesis Classics comp. Sonic Origins collection. Or of course, downloading an emulator like Kega Fusion and the original ROM.

    Of course, nothing beats original hardware hooked up to a CRT.

    But yeah, unfortunately there are plenty of amazing games that are lost to the sands of time. The game industry has gotten slightly better at preservation in recent years, and there are companies around like M2 who aim for the highest emulation accuracy policy when putting out retro game comps.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Update: looks like Sega *just* released a compilation of the classic Sonic games -- Sonic Origins -- at the end of June. Available on Steam, Switch, PS Store, etc., finally.

    Before that, they had delisted the games from all download outlets. And there were no compilations of these games released during the 2010s. So what I said mostly still stands, Sega had memory-holed the heyday of Sonic for an entire decade. But better late than never.

    However, those original games are still delisted from all online outlets -- you have to buy the new compilation, rather than the originals a la carte. And the new ones are remakes, using a new engine (not just emulating the original).

    And what would a Sonic project be without bugs? Jeez. Reviewers say there are recurring bugs in the games, not present in the originals, due to the use of a new engine instead of plain old simple emulation. One bad bug in Sonic 2, for example, gets Tails stuck.

    If you've never played them before, and are only mildly curious, this is a good way to dip your toes into the heyday of Sonic, and classic platformers as a whole.

    But I don't know if that mildly curious audience would pay $40 to find out. Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection sells for $15-20 these days, assuming you still have a PS3. And as a physical release, is NOT subject to delisting by distant corporate boardrooms.

    ReplyDelete
  29. This is still a stark warning about the dangers of online-only media vs. physical releases. The worst-case scenario would be where you couldn't even download the games -- only get streaming "access" to them while you're playing, but have nothing downloaded onto your hard drive. Not quite to that level of media dystopia -- yet.

    Still, the corpos can still delist the download option, and suddenly it's a physical-only release -- but one that is no longer "in print". The lucky people who downloaded it when it was available, now have a unique piece of hardware -- a hard drive with a no-longer-available game installed on it.

    That's what the old Wii consoles are going to become, when the Virtual Console ceases to exist for the Wii U next spring. Maybe the titles available on the VC (Wii or Wii U incarnation) will continue to be available on the Switch store -- but probably not all of them. That makes an old Wii with a "not available on Switch" game installed on it, a premium physical commodity. Crazy.

    Imagine a corpo trying to recall the entirety of their physical releases. Everyone with a Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection disc, please return it in the mail ASAP to Sega HQ so that it can no longer be a viable and cheap alternative to the new compilation we just released. And that compilation had a shitload more than just the classic Sonic games, BTW.

    The gold standard will always be the original hardware, but that is getting insanely expensive after the money-printing of the 2010s, and the same level of money-printing just during 2020, which drove up the prices of anything cool and collectable, including old video games, which were very affordable during the '90s and 2000s.

    After that, it will be the physical disc compilations released during the 2000s, when compilations were coming out one after the other, part of the broader '80s and early '90s revival of the 2000s. Of course you need a GameCube / Wii, PS2 / 3, or Xbox / 360, but those consoles are still affordable. (Some compilations had handheld releases as well, if you have a PSP or GBA / DS / 3DS).

    Finally, the physical consoles that have the games downloaded onto them from Virtual Console, etc., or with illegal ROMs loaded onto them.

    You'd have to be crazy to think that these games will be available forever at online download stores -- if they can wipe out all classic Sonic games, they can do it to any game. They don't even need a profiteering business reason, they can do it on a whim.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Are Millennials and Zoomers nostalgic for GameStop now? I would be. I know there was the meme stock thing, but I mean actual nostalgia for the store, the way they get misty-eyed about GameFAQs walkthroughs.

    I stopped playing most new video games after the '90s, but still hit up GameStop in the 2000s to get those compilations of old games for the PS2 or GameCube -- the only reason I bought those consoles. (Used and cheap, both the games and consoles.)

    Only contempo games I bought (used, cheap) were for the GBA, which was still keeping 2D alive over 3D, and the drawing / illustration style alive over the photographic / cinematographic style.

    I picked up the Game Boy Player adapter for the GameCube, allowing the GBA cartridges to play on a TV (without emulation of the GBA or the games -- same tech used for the GBP as the GBA). In the bargain bin for probably $5, with the disc, case, manual, everything. Now goes for well over $100, and sadly something I had to sell during a major move.

    And just milling around the store, browsing, being around other people, maybe chit-chatting with the workers.

    Similar to how Gen X will always wax nostalgic for the heyday of the video rental store. And like that staple of the community, the video game store had its small chains or mom & pop stores, like Play N Trade, not only the mega-corpo of GameStop.

    It was obligatory to hate on GameStop if you were a gamer in the 2000s, and I imagine into the 2010s. Now looking back on it, have gamers changed their minds? Its business model sucked, they ripped you off if you sold them anything, they always tried to push pre-orders, bla bla bla -- but still, it was a staple of the community, a cultural hang-out space for like-minded people, nothing online or digital about it, but physical and tangible and *social*.

    Once upon a time, it was also obligatory to hate on GameStop and others for slapping those price stickers on the games and consoles, requiring meticulous removal. Nowadays, do Millennials and Zoomers get nostalgic for those physical traces of a bygone social-cultural era?

    Like having VHS tapes that were originally from a public library, or a Blockbuster, or mom & pop video store. I have several like that, and the different types of cases, or the labels indicating who used to own it, do give them an extra level of nostalgia.

    If Gen X-ers can get nostalgic for Blockbuster Video, Millennials can sure as hell get nostalgic for GameStop.

    ReplyDelete

You MUST enter a nickname with the "Name/URL" option if you're not signed in. We can't follow who is saying what if everyone is "Anonymous."